JUSTICE Chile Eboe-Osuji is a brilliant legal mind and a gifted jurist, whose long and distinguished career has spanned many countries and institutions.

He is a perfect for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) says President Christine Kangaloo and the region will benefit greatly from his tenure.

Eboe-Osuji, of Nigerian nationality, was administered the oath by Kangaloo on Tuesday at the President’s House in Port of Spain to be a judge at the CCJ.

Speaking at the occasion, Kangaloo extended congratulations to him on behalf of Trinidad and Tobago.

She said from the moment it was established in 2001, the CCJ has been unswerving in the pursuit of its vision of becoming a model of judicial excellence.

“Justice Eboe-Osuji and the CCJ are a perfect match. The CCJ’s core values of integrity, industry, excellence, courtesy and consideration are in complete alignment with the judicial principles and philosophies which Justice Eboe-Osuji has long championed.  Indeed, in the CCJ’s and Justice Eboe-Osuji’s coming together, one might even join with the Psalmist and muse that “Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other,” Kangaloo said.

She added that the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission  made an excellent choice in appointing, to the CCJ, “a jurist of such calibre”  one who will have no trouble honouring and furthering the legacy of his predecessor, Justice Andrew Burgess.

To Eboe-Osuji, the President said, “ May you continue to blaze a trail of excellence from the bench you now join.  Once again, I offer you and your family my warmest congratulations and wish you every success as you assume office in the region’s premier homegrown judicial institution.”

More about Eboe-Osuji who was president of the International Criminal Court from 2018 to 2021.

Before joining the ICC, Judge Eboe-Osuji was the Legal Advisor to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, during which time he anchored the High Commissioner’s interventions in cases involving human rights questions. In that capacity, he led the writing of amicus curiae submissions to the European Court of Human Rights and the United States Supreme Court. He served as principal appeals counsel for the Prosecution in the Charles Taylor Case at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and has held several posts at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, including Head of Chambers and Lead Prosecution Trial Counsel.

He practiced law as a barrister before trial courts in Nigeria and Canada; and conducted appeals before the Court of Appeal for Ontario (Canada) and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Judge Eboe-Osuji taught international criminal law as adjunct professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa, Canada, and has an extensive record of legal scholarship and publications, including the books titled International Law and Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts, and Protecting Humanity (ed). He is the editor-in-chief of the Nigerian Yearbook of International Law. He served as legal expert to Nigeria’s delegation to the ICC-ASP Special Working Group on the Definition of the Crime of Aggression.

He was called to the Bar in Nigeria (1986); Ontario, Canada (1992); and British Columbia, Canada (1992). He served as a pupil barrister and articled student-at-law under Chief Mike Ahamba SAN (of Ahamba & Associates, Owerri, Nigeria); Mr David W Scott QC (of Scott & Aylen, now Borden Lardner Gervais LLP, Ottawa, Canada); and, Dr Christopher Harvey QC (of Russell & DuMoulin, now Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver, Canada).

Judge Eboe-Osuji received his PhD degree from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands (with thesis in international criminal law). He received his LLM degree from McGill University, Canada; and also did his Canadian law accreditation studies at McGill. He received the LLB degree from the University of Calabar, Nigeria. (information taken from the ICC’s website”